1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a vehicle diagnosing apparatus which diagnoses a vehicle, such as a motor vehicle, by communicating with an electronic control unit which is mounted on the vehicle.
2. Description of the Related Art
As this kind of vehicle diagnosing apparatus, there has hitherto been known one in, e.g., Japanese Published Examined Patent Application No. 52142/1995. Namely, the vehicle diagnosing apparatus is provided with a connector for connection to an electronic control unit (ECU) which is mounted on a vehicle. The vehicle is diagnosed by communicating with the electronic control unit via the connector. In this vehicle diagnosing apparatus, aside from the above-described connector, there is provided another connector for connecting or disconnecting a memory card. An analog/digital (A/D) converter is contained in the memory card, and probes are attached to the memory card. Analog signals from the probes are converted to digital signals by the A/D converter inside the memory card, and the digital signals are supplied to the vehicle diagnosing apparatus.
The vehicle diagnosing apparatus does not always require a memory card as an essential part or member. For example, if the data are communicated to and from a host computer, the memory card becomes needless. In the above-described conventional vehicle diagnosing apparatus, however, the memory card is equipped with the A/D converter and the probes. Therefore, even if the memory card can be eliminated or removed, the connector for the memory card must be maintained as it is. On the other hand, in case probes need be used in a vehicle diagnosing apparatus which is designed not to use a memory card, the vehicle diagnosing apparatus must be modified in order to newly provide it with a connector.
In view of the above-described problems, the present invention has an object of providing a vehicle diagnosing apparatus which can use a probe without additionally providing a connector which is exclusively used for the probe.